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Saturday, December 13, 2014

Ilocos Cops Gear Up to Counter Terrorism

In strategic partnership with Civil
Relations Service (CRS) Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), AFP
Civil-Military Operations School and Media and Civil Affairs Group CRS AFP, and
1st Civil Relations Group CRS AFP, the PNP’s Regional Public Safety Battalion 1
(RPSB 1) conducted a Community Engagement and Information Support Affairs
training at the Police Regional Office 1 (PRO 1) at Camp Oscar Florendo in San
Fernando, La Union.

December
11, 2014, San Fernando, La Union – As 2014 closes and the military slowly shifts
to external defense, the Philipine
National Police (PNP) is set to take greater Internal Security Operations (ISO)
responsibility and accountability.

The big question – “Is the PNP prepared to take on a bigger role in
counter-insurgency?”

In strategic partnership with Civil
Relations Service (CRS) Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), AFP
Civil-Military Operations School and Media and Civil Affairs Group CRS AFP, and
1st Civil Relations Group CRS AFP, the PNP’s Regional Public Safety Battalion 1
(RPSB 1) conducted a Community Engagement and Information Support Affairs
training at the Police Regional Office 1 (PRO 1) at Camp Oscar Florendo in San
Fernando, La Union.

This capacity building activity for
police officers in Region 1 aims to be a model for harnessing PNP-AFP
collaboration towards smooth and effective transition.

The 50 trainees comprising the
officers and leaders of RPSB and Provincial Public Safety Companies (PPSC) in Region
1 were oriented on the endgame required to finally resolve the communist banditry
in the country.

The participants were given
instructions and skills-training on engaging stakeholders and undertaking
counterpropaganda operations against the communists terrorists’ enslaving
control and deception.

What’s new in this training is the
emphasis on competence.

“Competencies are observable
abilities, skills, knowledge, motivations or traits defined in terms of
behaviors needed for successful job performance. The three elements of ISO
readiness are deemed essential to assure the effectiveness of public safety
forces as counter-insurgency agents.

“First is performance through service delivery and tactical skills. The police must be able to perform the basic
services of law enforcement and crime prevention. Tactical skills consists of
basic combat, troop leading procedures, intelligence, investigation, and self-protection
that includes the ability to escape when captured or detained by the enemy.

“Second, partnering or people skills are essentially expertise in
community organizing, which consists of social investigation, communication and
counter-propaganda and criticism and self-criticism.

“Third, personal effectiveness or accountability, which is all about
self-management/regulation, police ethics and living up to the PNP core values-
pulis na maka Diyos (regardless of religion, he believes in a Higher Being
or a God), makabayan (patriotic), makatao (humane) at makakalikasan
(pro-environment).

Finally,
what’s innovative in this capacity building even is the cross-training. The AFP
and PNP officers shared best practices and lessons learned in the field. It was a no holds-barred cross-fertilization
with an objective of learning from past mistakes and embarking on more creative
and resourceful means of rescuing the people from the deception of the enemy.

In his
closing address, Police Chief Superintendent Roman A. Felix, Regional Director
PRO 1 challenged to the police officers, “countering
communists terrorism is not just the
job of the AFP.Whether lead or support, the
police has a critical role in the fight.
For the NPA bandits have accumulated a long list of criminal offense,
murder, extortion, arson, Violence Against Women and Children, among others.”

“Remember,
the police do not live in co-existence with criminals. The way to win over
insurgency is through competent law enforcement. This is the best communications message to convince the people that that the PNP is
here to provide protection against terrorist organizations like the NPA.”

Felix further
challenged the officers that as leaders of the PNP intensified
counter-terrorism campaign, the endgame is really up to them. He emphasized that the loss of life and limbs
are not necessary. For the PNP, the way we can win against insurgency is by
winning hearts and minds of the people, and that is through the effective
community engagement of one competent and disciplined policeman, one day at a
time. “Do your job and do it well. Win the people and win the war,” he concluded.